Jorge Coutinho

Inspired by the life of one of the most famous policemen in the history of Brazil: detective Perpétuo de Freitas, immortalized in the annals of Brazilian criminal history for relentlessly pursuing and without the slightest assistance of the Rio police force one of the most wanted criminals in the country.

A Deusa Negra is a love story that spans two centuries. In 18th century Yorubaland, Prince Oluyole is taken prisoner in the course of internecine warfare fanned by overseas slave traders. He is sold into slavery in Brazil. In present day Nigeria, at his father's deathbed, the young Babatunde promises to go to Brazil and search for traces of their once-enslaved ancestors. Beginning with a Candomblé ritual, his journey takes him ever deeper into this culture and, in a dream-like sequence, affords him a deeper understanding of his ancestors' suffering and powers of resistance. Balogun effortlessly links present with past, real with magical worlds and discourse with trance. The hypnotic atmosphere is also heightened by the music of the Nigerian drummer Remi Kabaka, which plays with repetitive patterns and distortions.

Fable about the financial and social ascension of a black man in a small town, in the interior of the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and his existential crisis when he begins to believe the world is going to end.

A Brazilian production that portrays a journey of struggle, faith, hope and transformation through powerful life experiences.

Renato and Miro are black brothers raised by a white family in an old mansion in Rio de Janeiro. Renato, a graduated lawyer, has always looked for dignity, winning in life due to his honesty and search for social recognition. His brother, on the contrary, is a rebel small time crook who believes his behavior is the product of the treatment he received while being rased by the whites.

A rock singer goes to Brazil to shoot a video, but winds up getting kidnapped and enduring a number of seemingly bizarre and hilarious events.

Roberto is blind and tunes pianos, isolated from the world and hurt by having abandoned his promising career as a pianist due to the accident that took his sight. One day, Roberto meets Suzana, the great love of his life, and his old passion returns with full force. But there's a problem: Suzana's engagement could put everything to ruin, separating the passionate couple once again.

In the 1930s, novelist and politician Graciliano Ramos is accused of being a communist sympathizer. He is then arrested and sent to the Ilha Grande prison, where he experiences the disturbing treatment reserved for common prisoners.

Hit man does his part in a deal, but doesn't get the money he was promised. For the treason, he decides to eliminate them all.

Employees on a local supermarket plot an epic heist for robbing the place's vault, but things start to go wrong when they notice a police detective on their heels.

The old servant and chronicler Dom Sabas tells how his desolate South American town is the scene of a ruthless power struggle. The landowning Assis family, reduced to a widow and son, tries to hold out against the young, despotic mayor. No less effective then actions are anonymous rumors and accusations, which often stir the inhabitants' moves.

Quilombo dos Palmares was a real-life democratic society, created in Brazil in the 17th century. This incredibly elaborate (and surprisingly little-known) film traces the origins of Quilombo, which began as a community of freed slaves. The colony becomes a safe harbor for other outcasts of the world, including Indians and Jews. Ganga Zumba (Toni Tornado) becomes president of Quilombo, the first freely elected leader in the Western Hemisphere. Naturally, the ruling Portuguese want to subjugate Zumba and his followers, but the Quilombians are ready for their would-be oppressors. The end of this Brave New World is not pleasant, but the followers of Zumba and his ideals take to the hills, where they honor his memory to this day. Writer/director Carlos Diegues takes every available opportunity to compare the rise and fall of Quilombo with the state of affairs in modern-day Brazil.

Four candidates for a federal judge position embark on a madcap, no-holds-barred race to outdo one another, each committing his own brand of mayhem.

This adaptation of a classic Brazilian novel focuses on the relations of charismatic characters within a tenement.

Five segments about the hardships faced by people living in slums on hills in Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro crooks rove about, performing petty tricks to survive, and get involved with a woman who steals cars.

Balogun's most political film is a confrontation with the African wars of liberation. Based on Carcase for Hounds, Meja Mwangi's novel about the Mau-Mau uprising, it is set in an unnamed country and thus offers the vision of a pan-African struggle for freedom and against colonial oppression. The central figures in the straightforwardly and powerfully told story are the guerrilla leader Haraka and his adversary, the English colonial official Kingsley. In the end, the film becomes a homage to the freedom fighters from all over Africa: the final images show Patrice Lumumba, Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela and Amílcar Cabral, among others.

70-year-old widower living in a poor Rio de Janeiro suburb falls in love again when he finds a woman of approximately the same age.

Rich and spoiled kid, frustrated for not being chosen to join the soccer lessons his idol Zico was going to give, asks his father to clone the player. But a small girl smells something fishy going on and asks her friends to help save the Brazilian soccer star.

After assaulting a Hollywood film crew, a group of residents of a community in Rio de Janeiro decided to produce a film that would express the reality of Brazil - with the theme of Inconfidência Mineira.

The life of a runaway slave who founded the Quilombo dos Palmares, an outlaw community of Brazilian slaves.

A young rock singer meets his childhood heroine, a famous singer who is now wallowing in alcohol and sex.

A Brazilian musical comedy

Helena is a sweet, honest, sensitive and a warrior woman who faces the premature pregnancy of her daughter Joyce, who in turn is abandoned by her boyfriend, the irresponsible Caio. The biggest problem is the girl's father, Assunção, Helena's ex-husband, who does not accept the situation. Lonely and alone, Helena awakens a passion for the endocrinologist Carlos Alberto, and has her feelings matched. But Carlos is committed to the possessive Paula. The girl's parents, Zuleika and Rômulo, anxiously await their daughter's wedding with Carlos, who will save the family from financial decay. But Carlos is the type of man that women don't really forget. Even married to Paula and in love with Helena, he is still harassed by ex-wife Sheyla, who is not satisfied with having lost him and dreams of a rapprochement.

In the tiny poor town of Asa Branca, in the middle of Brazilian Northeast, Roque Santeiro is worshiped as a saint. He was supposedly killed by a bandit, 18 years ago, trying to save the local church. After his disappearance, local leaderships such as landowner Sinhozinho Malta and mayor Florindo, took profit on that to control the humble population. They even make up a widow, Porcina, who should have married Roque secretly before his death. What they don't expect is that Roque is alive, and he's back to, allegedly, "save his people". Now Malta, Florindo, Porcina, and others must hold him down and explain the "truth" to their commoners, in a desperate attempt to save their own bottoms. Meanwhile, mysterious facts surround Asa Branca, such as a Werewolf, a film crew who are trying to shoot a movie about Roque's story, and violent murderers.

A Maranhense young woman and a carioca tourist photographer fall for each other and get separated by destiny and a woman obsessed with his family's fortune.

The adventures of a man with amnesia who struggles to rediscover his past while learning to live in the present.

'Ti-Ti-Ti' presents a humorous plot, set in São Paulo, whose central theme is the professional, familial, and romantic rivalry between André Spina and Ariclenes Martins, or Ari, as he is known to those closest to him. The two were childhood friends and always fought a lot, engaging in tireless disputes over the same girlfriends.

The story, inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel of the same name – which fueled the abolitionist movement in the United States – depicts the conflict between enslaved American cotton planters and wealthy landowners in the South. The fight for freedom is led by Uncle Tom and his wife Chloe.

The story begins with the arrival of millionaire Antônio Carlos Volpone in Brazil. After living in Cairo for 18 years, he returns to his homeland for two reasons: first, to clarify the murder of his father-in-law, Dr. Telles, of which he was accused; second, to get closer to his ex-wife Estela, now married to Orlando Aranha. The millionaire also attracts media attention, and reporter Amélia Bicudo decides to investigate his life. To mislead his enemies and move freely, Volpone uses numerous disguises: the executive Anabela Freire, the doctor Nilo Peixe, the industrialist Augusto Melo Sampaio, and the driver André Silva. With the help of his loyal secretary and friend, Mosca, he confronts his main rival, Orlando Aranha, and Renata, Orlando's sister, who holds secrets about the murder of Estela's father.

'Abolição' shows how much the liberation of the enslaved transformed the structures of Brazilian society, both in the countryside and in the city, and the changes generated in the lives of black people themselves. The narrative is centered on the period in which the Lei Áurea was about to be signed by Princess Isabel, on May 13, 1888. At that time, the abolitionist theme was widely discussed in urban centers, while in rural areas slavery relations were still established. The enslaved Iná Inerã, spiritual leader and warrior, represents the fight to maintain African identity at any price, paid with her own life, if necessary. Journalist Lucas, in turn, is a freed black man who believes in peaceful integration between whites and blacks.

The transition from imperial Brazil to the Republic, marked by intrigue, rebellion, and popular indifference. Held in commemoration of the centenary of the birth of the Republic in Brazil.